Online Data Entry Jobs?

Recently on the Young Professionals Group, we had this question from Boni:

Hi Guys

I have had this eager to venture in this thing called online data entry jobs which pay well but u have to register an amount for you to join.

1. Now I don’t know who or where to begin searching for them
2. If they work or not

Kindly please advice me and probably give sites that have paid.

Here’s my answer:

Hi Boni

How are you? I hope all is well.

In my experience, data entry jobs are among the worst type of online jobs out there. Why? Because they usually involve a whole lot of work. The amount of data to be processed is not anything small, trust me. For example, I once had to input 3600 entries (several columns) into an excel sheet for a mere $30.

The best way, in my view, to make online data entry work for you is to do more than just one gig here and there. Perhaps you can organise some people and then your role becomes that of just getting the jobs and then passing on the work to them. If you get 10 jobs paying $30 each that is $300. You then just make sure you pay your people less than $300. I know several people who do this from their own homes, using their friends and younger siblings for labour.

Better yet, do something else other than data entry. Probably, every other type of job pays better than data entry. Do you have a particular skill or technical training? Yes? Good, you can find hundreds of job with that.

Here are some of the sites that I know actually work:

www.getafreelancer.com
www.guru.com
www.elance.com
www.rentacoder.com

There are thousands of jobs available but the competition for them is fierce. People from India and other parts of Asia have particularly flooded the net looking for jobs.

How can you outcompete them? Well, basically, it involves clever marketing. Put yourself out there in a way that you are seen as not just another freelancer but a serious professional. When looking for work online or elsewhere, it is sometimes very difficult to demonstrate what you can do to potential employers. You don’t really have anything tangible to sell and convincing clients to pay can be hard – they may even resort to asking you to do the work and then “if” it is good they will pay you. How can you change this? Use a portfolio. A portfolio is key in making potential employers feel secure and confident about you.

I hope I have been of help. Please feel free to ask any other questions that you may have.

Additionally, we have written a whole lot on this subject on this site so you will probably get some of your questions answered if stick around. :p

Here are some articles that may be interesting to you:

• Here is a method that is helping job seekers get jobs.
• Freelancing – the art of making money online by using your skills
• Beat the global recession with an online job
• Do you also want to be a freelancer? (An Interview)